Court Tosses Littering Conviction for Leaving Water in the Desert

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Metropolitan News Company

Friday, September 3, 2010
Court Tosses Littering Conviction for Leaving Water in the Desert
By STEVEN M. ELLIS, Staff Writer

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday threw out the littering conviction of a man who left gallon-sized plastic bottles of water in the southern Arizona desert for undocumented migrants crossing into the United States.

A split three-judge panel ruled that Daniel Millis did not violate federal law prohibiting “littering, disposing, or dumping…garbage,” because the term “garbage” was sufficiently ambiguous that the rule of lenity should apply.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco of the District of Arizona, who presided over a 2008 bench trial, found Millis guilty of violating 50 C.F.R. § 27.94(a) by placing the bottles on trails in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, but gave him a suspended sentence.

Millis is a member of “No More Deaths,” a faith-based humanitarian aid group that provides undocumented migrants with water, food and medicine to alleviate deaths related to exposure. He and three other volunteers were stopped by officers of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when the officers noticed the bottles of water in the back of their Toyota 4Runner.

Millis admitted placing the bottles along trails in the refuge, and told the officers he was also picking up empty bottles. The officers directed Millis to remove the bottles he had placed, but later cited him for “Disposal of Waste” and seized a total of 25 bottles of water amid a dispute over whether he fully complied with their orders.



Read more: http://www.metnews.com/articles/2010/mill090310.htm

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http://recovery.doi.gov.nyud.net:8090/press/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/buenos-aires-nwr_1_11-17-09.jpg

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Since when is leaving water "garbage"?

The appeals court got it right.

My. God.

He's trying to save some desperate human lives, for crissakes.

[freedom fighter jh]

3. I think they mean the empty bottles are garbage

So even tho they're not garbage when he's placing them, they inevitably will become garbage.

If that is what they mean, tho, it's a stretch, because they're not garbage when he puts them there.

[Judi Lynn]

14. He says he goes out and picks up the empty bottles. n/t

[Drale]

13. NO

Dont you listen to the "real americans" Mexicans arnt people they are the lowest form of life on this planet. On topic the court got it right its crazy though that this even made it to court in the first place, why arnt the tea baggers bitching and moaning about frivolous lawsuits?

[LanternWaste]

2. This story got a lot of play on DU when charges were first filed...

This story got a lot of play on DU when charges were first filed. I received a rather rude awakening as to the darker nature of some DUers.

It was at that point that I could almost palpably see which was more valuable to posters: national borders or human lives.

However, I am *very* glad to see the case was overturned on appeal.

[azmesa207]

4. Never fear

A Illegal immigrants is hated almost as much as the Clinton's are On DU

[No Elephants]

7. I'm pretty sure some of them have been tombstoned.

[iamthebandfanman]

5. eeek lets just hope some nutjob doesnt get the idea

and spike the water with something deadly.

[bloomington-lib]

11. Thinking the same thing

[savalez]

6. That's a faith based effort I can support.

Forgetting citizenship or whatnot, if people are there dying of thirst leaving water is a good thing.

http://www.nomoredeaths.org/

[No Elephants]

8. You're not the only one who supports it!

Matthew 25 (King James Version)

31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

[pipoman]

15. No, no, it must have been Muslims as no Christian could possibly do such a good thing...

:sarcasm:

[gratuitous]

9. The dissenting vote on the panel? Judge Jay S. Bybee

Remember the name? No? Well, he used to work in the Bush "Justice" Department before being elevated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Along with his colleague John Yoo, he worked out the legal rationale for justifying torture by the United States. See, words like "torture," according to then-attorney Bybee, were so ambiguous, they could mean anything. So, waterboard away! Stress positions were just fine. Sleep deprivation to the point of insanity and beyond? Perfectly fine according to Mr. Bybee.

But Judge Bybee? Well, he's got a whole new appreciation for words and their common ordinary meaning. In his dissent, he knows what "littering" is and by gadfrey, the defendant was littering, without a doubt!

Jay Bybee? Here's hoping you soon get a very personal understanding of what "due process" means.

[cosmicone]

10. This is really nice ...

helping people so that they don't die of hunger or thirst shouldn't be a crime. Even if it was Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. If immigrants have broken a law, that is for another day and another time.

[slackmaster]

12. Article doesn't say whether the "Creating a nuisance" charge was dropped